ACCEPTED WISDOM™
(Accepted Wisdom™ is a semi-regular feature of this site, highlighting contradictory viewpoints held by the elite.)
It is Accepted Wisdom™ that:
Able-bodied unemployed Americans are, by and large, not out of work by choice, but due to a lack of jobs. Accordingly, social programs should not be reduced on the theory that people ought to work for a living. Such assumptions are insulting to unemployed people.
And at the same time:
The federal government needs to reform laws pertaining to illegal immigrants. They are necessary to our economy, because they do jobs Americans just won’t do.
Yes, but the main reason said elites want us to reform the immigration laws is so that the immigrants won’t be exploited and will be eligible for protection under minimum wage laws, social security, Medicare, unemployment benefits, etc. and will join unions.
I leave the details as an exercise to the reader.
Comment by Stefan Sharkansky — 1/8/2004 @ 11:51 pm
I address this argument in the post above this one. I think as long as we have the welfare state, there will be a black market for jobs where illegals are exploited. Unfortunately, citizens will be okay with this, because at least it’s only the illegals being exploited.
Comment by Patterico — 1/9/2004 @ 7:14 am
By the way, I am not happy with this state of affairs. I would happily pay more for lettuce, for example, to keep illegals from being exploited. I am just looking at economic reality.
Comment by Patterico — 1/9/2004 @ 7:32 am